A deeper look into The Trotter Decision

Hey everyone.

So we had an opportunity to talk with Gene Chizik, Barrett Trotter, Emory Blake and … Cody Parkey … tonight. I learned a lot.

Let’s get to it:

• Clint Moseley is a man. The HABOTN Twitter crowd already knows my feelings on this, but it’s incredibly difficult to stand behind a podium — with cameras and recorders and all kinds of people around — and answer questions about why you’re not the starter at Auburn University. He earned my respect tonight.

• Barrett Trotter is the starter. You already knew that, obviously, but now Trotter feels it. He said things were different at practice tonight because of his new gig. “I’m the starting guy and it’s up to me to make sure things run like they ought to,” he said. “I felt a lot more responsible for things on the field when I was out there — missed assignment or dropped ball, ball on the ground, fumble. Those are the things I’m going to have to start putting on my back. Before, it wasn’t really my position to do that. I wasn’t the starter. Now it is.”

• Trotter won out because of “experience.” That’s what Chizik and Gus Malzahn told Moseley was the turning point. Consider, of course, that Trotter threw all of nine passes last season. He played rarely. The chasm between Trotter and Moseley is as wide as a matchstick, but Trotter is a year older. A coaching friend of mine said it’s standard procedure to give the older player the job when two players are equally capable. I believe that’s what happened here.

• Trotter believes this twist won’t affect his relationship with Moseley. I doubt things between them are smooth at the moment, but Trotter expects that to change. “We’ve been good friends throughout this whole thing,” Trotter said. “I don’t think this is going to mess any of that up. I know he’s really disappointed that he didn’t get the job. I would have been too — and a little angry, a little disappointed. In a few days or a few weeks, he’ll be able to come out of that and really be a great backup, a great friend and all that.”

• Moseley likely believes he won this job. A reporter asked Moseley if he was surprised by the decision. After a few nervous glances at an Auburn spokesman, the typically loquacious sophomore said: “I shouldn’t answer that.”

• Moseley will be Trotter’s backup. That sounds obvious, but Kiehl Frazier has been making a big push. The fact that Chizik was willing to make Moseley the No. 2 immediately speaks to how close the Trotter-Moseley race was. This coaching staff rarely pulls the carrot away from anyone’s face — and one could argue that’s what just happened to Frazier.

• Frazier’s status for this season, at least for the moment, is not in doubt. Chizik said Frazier is light years ahead of where he was when camp began, which is a good sign for his development. There was no talk of a redshirt season. “”Kiehl has made strides,” Chizik said. “We’re getting him ready.”

TALK ABOUT IT IN THE FORUMS